There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.
Parallel translations
- WEB There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and virgins without number.
- BSB There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number,
- NKJV There are sixty queens And eighty concubines, And virgins without number.
- NASB “There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, And young women without number;
- NLT Even among sixty queens and eighty concubines and countless young women,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Though there may be many queens, concubines, and maidens, they serve as a foil for the bride. Numbers cannot rival the worth of the one beloved.
Overview
The verse sets up a contrast: however many royal women there might be, none compares to the bride (6:9). The point is her unrivaled uniqueness, not an endorsement of polygamy, which the Old Testament narratives consistently show to bring grief. In the love poem, the multitude only magnifies the singular treasure of the one beloved.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 45:14She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.
- 1 Kgs 11:3And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.
- 1 Kgs 11:1But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;
- 2 Chr 11:21And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and threescore concubines; and begat twenty and eight sons, and threescore daughters.)
- Ps 45:9Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
- Rev 7:9After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
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Christ at the center
The poetry of covenant love between bride and bridegroom pictures, at its highest, the love of Christ for his church — the Bridegroom who gave himself for his bride.
How Song of Songs 6:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.